I just read a post on another forum claiming a quick 30 second scald in boiling water will help crisp chicken shin when cooking it in the smoker. It was a Chinese Lady who claims she has used it for years and never had the rubbery skin problem.
I am doing chicken legs for Supper but unfortunately already have them dry brining so won't be able to test it out.
Anyone ever heard of or tried this method?
That's a technique commonly used on duck, which has wayyy more fat than chicken, but I could see it working. I'd just dry brine and leave uncovered in the fridge for a few days to get good crispy chicken skin
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- Back in the late 70's thru the mid 80's we lived in Japan there was a chicken place called Nobi BBQ. The chicken was outstanding. You had to wear an OBA or Scott Air Pack to eat inside the place was so smokey.
- At the time my wife wore many hats in the base Recreation Department (youth/teen center director, youth sports director, high school cafeteria etc...) All of the activites were funded but Youth Sports.
- To raise money for youth sports my wife would muster a group of folks to attend the Bon-A- Dori festivals in Yokosuka, Negishi and Nagai where they would cook up American food while many JN's were preparing there dishes. At one of the Bona-A-Dori's Nobi BBQ attended. Owner (Ishiwatasan)spoke much better English than I Japanese.
- He passed the following to me:
Pour boiling water over the meat (careful don't overcook the meat). Skin should start to shrink a bit and turns more translucent than usual skin color.
Dry the skin and spray with oil. I have used vegetable oil, PAM, Duck Fat and in a pinch Weber Grilling Spray.
This has worked for me. Cook in the 370°-425° range and the skin crisps up just fine.
I have not done it in a while. I just use my Holland Grill it crisps up chicken skin like a potato chip.
One thing a chicken plant deals with, is having the scolding vats hot enough to loosen the feathers on the wings, but not so hot that they render out too much subcutaneous fat under the breast skin and reduce the weight (read "yield") with the whole birds. It's a happy medium that no one is ever happy with, just ask the wing packers or the GPM over the Whole Bird Line.
With that said, the hardest skin to crisp is the skin with the most fat under it, so if over-scolding the bird gets it I say go for it. I've seen enough over-scolded carcasses in my lifetime that I'll do without.
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